Electrophotographic printers have achieved a substantial level of sophistication. These printers provide documents with text and images having a variety of color shades or shades of black and white. The capabilities of these printers have enabled users to produce intricate documents with fanciful designs not previously thought possible.
While the capabilities of such printers have increased dramatically, these printers still produce images on sheet media. Although electrophotographic printers may be provided with multiple media trays so that the images may be provided on different sizes of media sheets, the media sheets remain rectilinear in shape with standard sizes. As a consequence, users of electrophotographic printers have been able to print text and designs for photographs, greeting cards, labels, and brochures, but the non-standard shapes and sizes typically desired for many of these projects requires additional processing.
For example, grade school teachers frequently prepare crafts for completion by their classes. While they are able to print indicia for a craft on paper sheets, such as a pumpkin face, they typically must cut the sheets into pumpkin shapes by hand using scissors. Even when the project or craft is simply smaller, but in the same shape as the paper sheets on which the indicia are printed, the user typically takes the printed sheets to a manual paper cutter for trimming to the appropriate dimensions. Frequently, the user may attempt to cut more sheets than the cutting arm can effectively cut leading to user frustration with the throughput of such paper cutting devices.
The current alternatives to after-printing cutting of media sheets are to purchase custom cut paper or to use automatic paper cutters. Both of these options are relatively expensive as custom paper cutting may require significant numbers before a printing shop will reduce its prices to what is perceived as a reasonable level. Because most classes and business meetings are relatively small, print shops with automatic paper cutting facilities are typically not an acceptable option for obtaining custom paper sizes and shapes. Most automatic paper cutters suffer from a number of limitations. For one, they only cut straight lines and do not offer much assistance to those seeking more fanciful design cuts. Additionally, the costs of purchasing automatic paper cutters generally preclude them from being purchased for a school, home, or small business.
What is needed is a custom paper cutter that may be used to generate non-standard paper sizes and shapes cost effectively for small batches.